Wilt’s great discovery ended up not being so great. Making a chant designed to work for all intentions had been done before, but the Ein requirements were simply too high for people to operate it. It was a discarded method that had never been fully explored, but she agreed that he should try and form an attunement for it. His particular situation should make it feasible, though there was no sure-fire method to forming an attunement.
Most of Wilt’s chants now became the same few words. He stopped using his name as a pun, the embarrassment was not worth the slightly lessened Ein cost. That had been an interesting experience. When he tried the chant without adding his name at the end, it worked just as well. He tried a few other variants too, using councilor Janette’s experience and knowledge to help him. She had given him some tips, and the chant ended up being slightly different from how it started. With her help, he managed to find another chant that would accomplish the same task. The Ein cost was significantly higher, and it was to the point that no one other than him could perform it more than three or four times.
That’s what he was going to practice now. He was also meeting up with Stella, as they promised to help one another. She was walking in her aunt’s footsteps and was focusing on wards. That actually angered Janette since she believed that Stella was wasting her potential. Wilt had been around for a few discussions between them, and he was amazed at how well they avoided a direct argument. Maybe they did it when he wasn’t there, and he was glad to avoid it. Both women were extremely driven and set on their beliefs, and he had long since stopped trying to get involved, even going so far as to ignore the requests for his involvement. They both wanted him to argue for their side, and he didn’t really have the courage for that. Ultimately, he decided that he would help Stella when she wanted, as she had already done a lot more for him.
He wasn’t able to do much for her, but he was able to act as a battery for her wards. She would make wards, and he would power them. He had a little skill in wards now too and could help with some of the crafting if needed. Most of the time though, she just used him to test wards that she couldn’t power easily. Honestly, he didn’t mind as he just enjoyed being around her.
Wilt headed towards the usual room. Stella had reserved one of the laboratories in the institute and consistently managed to maintain ownership of the space. He didn’t know how she worked that out but guessed that it had to do with who her aunt was. It didn’t really matter, and he knocked on the wooden door before entering. She said he didn’t need to knock, but it was a bit too unnatural for him. He didn’t wait for her to open the door though and pushed it open himself. The wood felt strangely cold, and he entered to see frost along one of the walls.
“You got it to work!”
The room was freezing, and he saw frost had grown over most of the room. He had shown her the cold fire chant and had been helping her do the same. Furthermore, he was surprised by how much frost he saw. He didn’t think she had enough Ein to manage something like this. It seemed like he was wrong as it looked like she succeeded, and he smiled as he turned to face her. Her focus seemed off, and he felt his heartbeat quicken. Rushing over to her, he grabbed her arm, while speaking.
“Are you ok?”
Her lips were slightly blue, and he had to shake her to get her attention. She felt cold, though he didn’t know of any method to heal. However, he could warm her body and muttered a chant quickly.
“I call upon my soul’s fire”
A candle-like flame popped up in the air beside Wilt, and he manipulated it to provide heat for her. He imagined heat moving from it to warm her body without harming it. It took active conversation, and he relaxed a little as he saw color return to her body. He wished he knew how to heal but had learned that having more Ein actually makes healing riskier. Using too much Ein while healing would result in unnatural growths that were usually worse than the injury itself.
He scooped her up, glad for all the physical training of the past few weeks. Before he would have struggled to carry someone, even one as light as Stella. But now he could manage it easily. When he did this, he realized how cold her body really was, and moved the flame closer to her. He imagined it warming her body and controlling the heat so that it wouldn’t be harmful. The flame slowly coated her, and he felt himself start to sweat. It wasn’t hot enough to hurt, but it felt like it was the middle of a hot season.
Leaving the room, he quickly dashed down the hallway. Thankfully, the halls were empty as they usually worked long after classes ended. He considered going to the medical office, but it was far away, and he didn’t know if anyone would be working now. There were usually people there when someone was working on an experiment, but he doubted that Stella informed anyone that she was working on something. She was adamant about doing things on her own, and he was usually the one to inform the medical office about her experiments. Today was supposed to be for research, so he didn’t inform them. There was still a chance that someone else was working on an experiment, though not many people actually informed the medical office ahead of time.
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Trusting his instincts, he pushed open the door to councilor Janette’s room. This wasn’t her lab, but her office. He had never seen her not working and bet that she would be in there. He was right, and he saw her raise her head to glare at the intruders. However, when she saw Stella her glare fell apart, and she rose quickly. She ran over, telling him to lay her on the couch. She saw the fire that was coating Stella but seemed unbothered by it.
Within a few seconds, he saw Janette beginning a chant. It was so quiet that he couldn’t hear the words, and he wondered if there was a reason for that. Slowly, he was able to observe as Janette started healing Stella. Wilt chose to leave the flame, as the councilor hadn’t said to do anything, and it made him feel less useless.
“I need more Ein, go get one of the healers.”
The councilor’s voice sounded strained, and he saw sweat building on her forehead. He knew that she struggled with things not related to wards, but this was one of the few moments where he truly understood the weakness of that. Wilt was about to run out but stumbled to a stop when he heard Amanda speak.
“I already sent an emergency summons out; it will still take a few minutes though.”
She sounded worried too, and Wilt assumed it worse than he initially thought. Panicking, Wilt tried to figure out what he could do.
“Is there anything Icando?”
He spoke quickly stammering over his words, but his intentions were understood. Janette didn’t raise her head but still responded.
“Not unless you have a method for restoring Ein.”
“I can try, is that what you’re doing?”
Wilt felt desperation creeping into his mouth, though he didn’t actually know what Stella’s condition was. He thought he had been helping with the fire but didn’t know for certain. Suddenly, Janette’s head snapped upwards, and she spoke quickly.
“You can do it, this is the chant I just used. Purify my Ein and Pass it to another, grant them a portion of myself. Repeat it exactly while directing your Ein towards her.”
He didn’t hesitate and quickly knelt beside the couch. Placing his hands over Stella’s chest like Janette had, he didn’t even worry about his attunement and immediately began repeating the words.
“Purify my Ein and Pass it to another, grant them a portion of myself!”
When he spoke, he was practically yelling the words, and he saw the fires wash away. He still wasn’t skilled enough to maintain multiple chants, and the flames vanished as the new chant took effect. He was shocked at how easy it was. He thought it would be harder, and then he felt his Ein crash against something, and it took a lot more effort to continue to move it along the path. He was sweating now too but kept pushing forward. He vaguely heard Janette’s words as he strained from the effort.
“To transfer your Ein to someone, you need to purify it first. It is one of the hardest and most wasteful chants. However you should be able to manage, just focus on pushing your Ein through.”
Nodding, Wilt continued to push his Ein, letting as much as he could muster transfer to Stella. As he kept pushing, he felt something break, and his Ein poured out in far greater amounts than he expected. The color quickly returned to Stella’s skin, and her eyes sprung open. She seemed alarmed and roughly pushed against Wilt as she sprang to her feet.
“What happened?”
She was looking over the room quickly, slowly gathering her surroundings. Eventually, she relaxed but still fidgeted nervously. For her part, Janette slumped back against the couch, and even Amanda sagged in her chair. It was the first time Wilt had seen the two without perfect poise and posture. It had always seemed like they were inhumanly professional, and he let himself relax upon seeing them.
“You depleted your Ein reserves, and I had Wilt transfer his into you. What I don’t understand is how it happened so quickly.”
Janette was speaking with a lot of informality, and her head turned towards Wilt as she finished speaking. He didn’t really know what had happened and had thought that he messed up. When he felt something break, and his Ein travel much more quickly, he imagined that he had screwed up. Unconsciously, he had been worried that he had harmed Stella. Thankfully that didn’t seem to be the case, and he only shrugged his shoulders in response.
“Is that why I feel like I have so much Ein. I think it's more than I had before.”
Stella was staring at her hands in amazement as she talked, though her words had deserved a much bigger reaction. On the other hand, Janette jumped to her feet and ran over to Stella grabbing her by the wrist. Even while doing some checks of her own, she asked her niece a series of questions. Wilt just sagged further as they started talking.
Closing his eyes, he fell back onto his hands. He used them to prop himself up as he stretched his legs. He was more than happy to take a back seat to the conversation and was surprised when he felt someone tap his shoulder. Amanda stood behind him, holding out a cup of tea for him. She gave him a warm smile.
“Thank you, though this isn’t exactly equal.”
Shaking his head quickly, he grabbed the offered tea. Amanda sounded as relieved as he felt, and he was more than glad to accept the proffered drink.
“Thank you, and I was happy to help.”
The words sounded awkward as they left his mouth, and he drank the tea to hide his blush. It was good, and the sweetness of it surprised him. It helped him relax, though he almost spilled it when some people rushed into the room.
The medical team that had arrived contained three people. The medical chanters all wore yellow robes, and he was surprised to see that so many had come. Although the alert Amanda used was probably something reserved for a councilor, so the response seemed justified. Janette quickly dismissed them, chastising them for not always being available. She even mentioned talking to another councilor to instate new policies concerning the medical staff. He didn’t know what she would do, but he felt bad for the healers as they walked away. There was a little bit of silence, but Janette turned her head toward Wilt, and he braced for an interrogation.